"Laluji became a victim of the conspiracy by Nitish Kumar, who wanted to silence the voice of dalits, poor, backwards and minorities," said RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav. Lalu's son, Tejaswi Yadav , echoed him.

"The principal conspirators are Nitish and the BJP as Laluji fought against them. The RJD rank and file is united like a rock. Those who received kickbacks are out and the person who filed 45 FIRs is in jail.''

Lalu's wife and ex-CM , Rabri Devi, described him as a hero, who would remain so. She said he would continue to run the party and the RJD has convened a meet of its office-bearers on October 6 to discuss his conviction.

He said Lalu consulted senior party leaders, including MPs Prabhunath Singh, Jagdanad Singh and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, about the future course of action in case he was jailed before leaving for Ranchi on Sunday. "He had delegated parliamentary business to Raghuvansh Babu ." RJD general secretary Vijay Krishna said the party ran the government when Lalu was in jail earlier and there will be no problem in running the party now.

He said the party would consult Lalu on important issues jail and Rabri Devi would be authorized to sign papers related to allotment of the symbol for elections.